A MATURE student training to be a nurse is celebrating both her first job and receiving an award from Teesside University.

When she was a girl, Sarah Owen, 35, from Marske, east Cleveland, dreamed of becoming a nurse when she grew up.

And now she has achieved her ambition, having worked as a site digger for Cleveland County Council and become a mother of three in the meantime.

She is celebrating after getting her first job in her new career as a staff nurse at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and she received an award for outstanding achievement in theory and practice at the graduation ceremony for her Advanced Diploma in Nursing.

She said: "I really enjoyed the course, so much so that I have decided to stay on and study for the degree in nursing. The course was very challenging, but we had a lot of support from the lecturers and had access to some excellent equipment in both the school's building and the Learning Resource Centre.

"Winning the award was a great way of completing the course and added something special to the graduation ceremony."